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Wimbledon 2013 Men's Final

Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Andy Murray (2)
Set 1 2 3 Novak Djokovic 4 5 4 Andy Murray 6 7 6
Date	Sunday, 7 July 2013
Tournament	The Championships, Wimbledon
Location	Centre Court, All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon, London, England
Chair umpire	Mohamed Lahyani
Duration	3 hours 9 minutes
Andy Murray with the Wimbledon trophy

The 2013 Wimbledon Championships Men's Singles final was the championship tennis match of the Men's Singles tournament at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships. A significant part of the Djokovic–Murray rivalry, it pitted the world's top two players, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, against each other in a Grand Slam final for the fourth time.

After three hours and nine minutes, second seeded Murray defeated World No. 1 Djokovic 6–4, 7–5, 6–4 to win the match. By winning the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, Murray became the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win the Wimbledon title and the first Scottish man since Harold Mahony in 1896 to win the title. The match was watched by a peak television audience of 17.3 million in the UK on BBC One. In the United States, ratings dropped 35% from the 2012 final when Roger Federer defeated Murray, making it the second least watched final since 1996 (only ahead of 2010).

Background

The match took place on the final day of the 2013 edition of the 13-day Wimbledon Championships, held every June and July. These two players had been heavily favoured to meet in the final following the early round defeats of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, among others. Novak Djokovic was the top seed despite not being the defending champion, and was going for a second title at Wimbledon after winning in 2011, whilst Andy Murray, the second seed, was going for his first title after finishing runner-up to Federer the previous year. Both players had made it through their first four matches in straight sets, and both had to overcome tough five-set matches to make the final: Murray against Fernando Verdasco in the quarter-finals, against whom he dropped the first two sets, and Djokovic against Juan Martín del Potro, where he defeated the Argentine in the longest men's singles semifinal in Wimbledon history at the time, clocking in at 4 hours and 43 minutes.

Match

Andy Murray won the pre-match coin toss and chose ends, Novak Djokovic elected to serve first. Andy Murray then tested his serve early, earning three break points before Djokovic reeled off five consecutive points to take the opening game of the match. Murray then broke to take a 2–1 lead, but was immediately broken right back, after which Murray broke again to take a 4–3 lead. From there, neither player managed to break again in that set, with Murray serving out the set to love to take the first set 6–4.

Djokovic then started to make a comeback as he broke to take a 4–1 lead in the second set, though Murray then won the next three games to level the set at 4–4. Murray broke once again at 6–5 and once again served an ace on set point to win the second set 7–5 and thus go two sets up.

Murray then broke early to take a 2–0 lead in the third set, but then Djokovic won four games in a row to lead 4–2 on serve. Murray then broke again to keep the set on serve, and then held his subsequent service game to level the set at 4–all. Murray once again broke to take a 5–4 lead, thus putting himself in a strong position to serve for the championship. Murray served out to gain three championship points, but Djokovic saved all of them, thus forcing deuce. Djokovic then earned three separate break points, but Murray saved them all, the first through a huge first serve, the second through a cross-court forehand winner and the third through a forehand volley winner. Murray then earned a fourth championship point, which he converted after Djokovic netted a backhand to conclude the contest.

Murray thus became the first British man since Fred Perry to win the Wimbledon men's singles title. Djokovic, meanwhile, missed his chance to win a second Wimbledon title after his victory over Rafael Nadal in 2011.

Officials

The chair umpire throughout the match was the Swedish official Mohamed Lahyani. He had previously umpired the record-breaking Isner–Mahut match at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships.

Statistics

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Murray and Djokovic about the match

Andy Murray said after the match that he could not believe that he had won Wimbledon:

It feels slightly different to last year. Last year was one of the toughest moments of my career, so to manage to win the tournament today... It was an unbelievably tough match, so many long games.
It was tough speaking after the match. There are a lot of people who have worked with me over the last 10 or 15 years or so. I didn't know what to do with myself. The noise levels during the whole match were just incredible.
I have played in a lot of Slam finals, all against Roger or Novak. Roger is probably the greatest player ever, Novak is one of the mentally strongest ever. I never had experience on my side, to beat him was so tough, it was such a tough match.

— Andy Murray

Novak Djokovic conceded that Murray was the better player on the day, and that he deserved the title:

It wasn't easy. Andy deserves the win, he played incredible tennis. Congratulations to him and his whole team and the country, I know what it means to you all.
It makes the success even bigger as I am aware of the pressure he gets. There are always lots of expectations on him to win this tournament. It's a great achievement.

— Novak Djokovic

Murray's Wimbledon victory ranked as one of the greatest drought breakers in world sport.

Reaction

Murray's Wimbledon victory was met with a positive reaction around Great Britain.

Tim Henman said he was delighted to finally see Murray end Britain's 77-year wait for a home-grown male Wimbledon Champion:

It's absolutely fantastic. It was the sheer will, that ability to find a way to get the job done when Djokovic would not go away.
He was serving for history, 40-0 up and Djokovic saved three match points.
It's an unbelievable achievement for him and one we're all incredibly proud of. He always in his heart of hearts believed he could win the tournament.
He had the huge disappointment of losing the final 12 months ago but knew he could do it.

— Tim Henman

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, the Queen, Sir Chris Hoy, Fred Perry's daughter, Penny, Mayor of London Boris Johnson, WTA players Laura Robson and Victoria Azarenka, and Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, were also among those who paid tribute.

This young man deserves every bit of his success, he's not just overcome adversity it is all about constant improvement.
He does everything to continue his game, if he has to build himself up, he builds himself up, if he has to train himself to do things he didn't like doing, he does that.
Everything about him is about self-improvement, and he deserves every bit of his success. I've been watching him for 10 years, he is a different man out there and he's different to last year, he's getting better all the time.

— Alex Salmond

It was an amazing performance from Andy Murray, but also an amazing day for British tennis and for Britain. He never gave up and it was magnificent. It was a privilege to watch Andy Murray making history.

— David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Additionally, BBC Sport writer Tom Fordyce hailed Andy Murray's Wimbledon victory as "the 'holy grail' for British sport".

Murray's Wimbledon victory dominated most of the British newspapers. It also even made front-page headlines on Serbia's two biggest newspapers, Blic and Politika, and also dominated the sports sections of The New York Times in the United States and Australia's Sydney Morning Herald.

See also

• Djokovic–Murray rivalry
• 2012 US Open – Men's singles final
• 2016 French Open – Men's singles final

References

1. Newbery, Piers (7 July 2013). "Andy Murray beats Novak Djokovic to win Wimbledon". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
2. Plunkett, John (8 July 2013). "Wimbledon men's final draws 17m to BBC1". Guardian. London. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
3. Wimbledon TV Ratings: Overnights Drop For Both Singles Finals, Sports Media Watch, 8 July 2013
4. Wimbledon 2013: Federer, and more - upsets galore on day three, The Roar
5. Wimbledon 2013: Order restored on day four, The Roar
6. Andy Murray fights back to beat Fernando Verdasco and make Wimbledon semi-finals, The Courier-Mail
7. Novak Djokovic defeats Juan Martin del Potro in what was at the time the longest semi- final in Wimbledon history, Fox Sports Australia
8. Ronay, Barney (8 July 2013). "Murray conquers Djokovic and sets the nation's heart aglow". Guardian. London. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
9. Murray fulfils his destiny by ending 77-year famine, Independent.ie
10. "The Associated Press: Wimbledon umpire enters tennis history". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 28 June 2010. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
11. John Martin (23 June 2010). "Logistics Are Put to the Test at Wimbledon". The New York Times.
12. "Isner finally wins marathon match". BBC News. 23 June 2010.
13. Newbery, Piers (8 July 2013). "BBC SPORT: Andy Murray beats Novak Djokovic to win Wimbledon".
14. AAP (8 July 2013). "Andy Murray claims Wimbledon crown, beating Novak Djokovic in straight sets, News.com.au". Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
15. Great Drought Breaking Sports Performances, News.com.au
16. ^ Andy Murray: Queen and David Cameron praise Wimbledon win, BBC Sport
17. ^ Shock and joy as Andy Murray wins Wimbledon, The Australian
18. Andy Murray's Wimbledon win will inspire generation - Tim Henman, BBC SPORT
19. Andy Murray: Wimbledon victory the 'holy grail' for British sport, BBC SPORT
20. Andy Murray's Wimbledon win: What the papers say, BBC SPORT
21. Andy Murray Wins Wimbledon Newspaper Reaction, smh.com.au
22. Sports Archived 2013-07-06 at the Wayback Machine, Blic Online
23. After Djokovic's defeat at Wimbledon: Service betrayed him Archived 2013-08-18 at the Wayback Machine, Blic Online
24. Ђоковић: Учинио сам све, али Мареј је заслужио трофеј, Politika
25. Sports News - Tennis, The New York Times
26. Tennis, smh.com.au

External links

• Andy Murray vs. Novak Djokovic: Wimbledon final as it happened, BBC SPORT
• Match Statistics, official Wimbledon website
• Match details, official ATP site
• Player Head to Head, official ATP site
• Extended highlights on YouTube

• 2013 Wimbledon Championships
• Andy Murray tennis matches
• Novak Djokovic tennis matches
• Wimbledon Championships finals